Emily C. Skaftun

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Emily C. Skaftun

About Me

Writing Sample

Astrill had been through more lives than me, but never even thought about joining the Collective. “Sounds boring,” ze’d said when I confided my quest to zir. “But I bet you a case of snapps you’ll find your clutchmate’s head still frozen on Earth.”
“And pigs can fly,” I replied. “Even if it wasn’t a scam in the first place, there’s no way humans kept a thing like that safe all this time.”
“No? You got another explanation for your soul staying split?”
I didn’t.
“With the proper application of thrust, anything can fly,” ze went on. “Pigs, frozen heads, even this rust bucket.” Astrill patted the ship’s hull lovingly with one tentacle.
I fluttered my tail in my best approximation of dismissive Roptralian body language.
“Find the head, destroy it, free ol’ Kath’s soul, then you can join the snooze fest next time you die,” Astrill said, performing a complicated twining gesture with three of zirs twelve tentacles. “Couldn’t be simpler!”
Simple? It seemed impossible. And yet, I had no better answer. Plus, a case of snapps was on the line.
I went looking for my soulmate.

What I Write

I like to call it “delightfully absurd,” and hope no one notices it’s a smokescreen covering my distaste for details like “how things actually work.”

Write-a-thon Goals

Writing Goals

In the last year I’ve fallen back in love with short fiction. I mean, it’s kind of an abusive relationship, but isn’t it always? I recently completed a story that I love, and just because (so far) editors don’t share that love, I’m trying hard not to let that dampen my enthusiasm for the other story ideas in my head. (There are story ideas in my head again!!!)

In the spirit of the workshop (but not the pace of it, because, hello, I still have to work), I will attempt to finish two stories.

(As usual, I ALSO need to clean my digital house, add postcards to the page, add writing I did for the dayjob to my website, finish and post some travel writing, blah, blah, blah (it’s almost like the yearly ritual of updating my CW write-a-thon page is the only time I look at my website…) But unlike in past years, this year that seems like the distraction it is from the writerly task of, you know, writing. So I’ll get to these things if I get to them. Onward, writing!)

Fundraising Goals

Sponsor me with money! All sponsors paying over $15 will receive a one-of-a-kind postcard story on an actual postcard from an actual foreign country (Iceland, Ireland, Cuba, or Israel primarily). To read my famous* story postcards, visit http://www.eskaftun.com/postcards-from.

I’ll also share my new story with all backers. Get it before it appears in [hopefully somewhere]! It’s about frozen heads and alien squirrels.

*I say this tongue-in-cheek, but I’ve noticed the concept spreading since I started posting my story postcards in 2012. Other write-a-thon-ers may offer story postcards, but do not be fooled! These are the originals! 🙂